


Mr. Thace's Toy Shop

by Miyu_Jaeger



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: But here the chara is major, Christmas fic, Contains a lot of dialogue, Dolls, Fluff, Heartwarming, I mean the chara is canonically minor, M/M, Maybe not as feelsy?, Memories, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Toys, cuteness, keith being cute, minor/major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 11:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13146051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miyu_Jaeger/pseuds/Miyu_Jaeger
Summary: Hey, do you know about that toy shop in the corner of the street? Have you been there? I heard that it's closed now, and the second generation of the owner now owns a bigger shop downtown. But have you met the real owner? Or have you gone to the original shop when it was still open? If so, go on. Tell the sweet story of Mr.Thace's Toy Shop





	Mr. Thace's Toy Shop

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas here from Miyu! Hello, to all new readers or the readers that came from Your Looming Shadow. I tried to make this one not as feelsy (no archive warnings yay!). You know, a lot of things happened before this thing can be up. Sorry I'm late, too. Wifi is shit over here (I'm on holiday overseas) and my account crashed until COPYING and PASTING turned to be a nightmare. Besides that, I had some mental-related problems and it... wasn't very nice. When I finally managed to piece things back together and got my happy vibe back it's already 20th December, plus I'm only halfway finished. But fuck it, I already cancelled my Halloween fic and I don't want my readers to be disappointed (especially the ones that waited since Your Looming Shadow's spoiler) so here it is! (Quite proud actually hahaha). I apologize for typos and/or grammatical errors since well, you read the top right? But please enjoy and once again, happy holidays from Miyu :3
> 
>  
> 
> *P.S: don't worry about me now, I'm okay :)

There was once a little toy shop on the corner of the street. It was a small shop, yes. Not your typical big department store for toys downtown with thousands of lights from toys or walls and lots of floors to explore. This is just a tiny shop, only has one floor to explore, not with thousands of illuminating lights. Just a little humble name plate that’s also pretty dim. Some letters even didn’t light up at certain times. But this little store was always visited by people. Not that many until you have to squish through your ways, but there will always be people when you walk in. Maybe three or four, maybe one or even none. But you will never be alone. This little shop catered to everyone from every background. Collectors sometimes came in to find rare toys or homemade custom dolls. Curious tourists came in to buy simple teddy bears for souvenirs. Poor people from the streets came in to buy a second-hand toy to accompany their lonely nights.

 The owner was a nice man. He looked like he could punch you in the face with those muscles, but his delicate hands sewing those dolls will make you think otherwise. You will never shop alone, because the owner would be there for you giving advices or ideas. His custom dolls were a favorite because of its uniqueness. His dolls did not look as real like a porcelain baby, did not spark an empty scary smile like the booming Raggedy Ann doll. It was unique in its own way. The owner would make your custom doll not like what you imagined, it would be like how he imagined you in your best. You could be made an alien, a mermaid, or even a lion hybrid by him, but he never intended to offend you and his works were remarkable. That was why people bought the custom dolls for birthday presents or a baby shower gift. His dolls were fluffy and soft, but maintained a posture as if it had bones. It was the owner’s secret wiring technique. This magnificent man who owns the toy shop was named Thace. He used to be a lieutenant in the special operations squad nicknamed Marmora, but he retired and started his own business. So come down here, and purchase a toy from Mr. Thace’s Toy Shop.

____________

An orphan boy

Lost in the snow

He remembered the head in the orphanage kicking some of the children out that morning. He could not just say kick as in kicking their bottoms down the entrance stairs and fall face first to the cold snow. It was more like, asking them to go out. This little boy was forced to sell newspapers in this winter. Heat and food were in a quite dire situation in the orphanage and the donations given could not suffice. Maybe it was because of the corruption going on in the internals and higher-ups. So the nuns had to ask some of the children to take turns going out of the orphanage selling many things with guilt. They were ordered to not return until the goods were sold out and they would count their earnings to see if they lied or not because some children just dumped the goods in the trash to cover things up. What a poor boy, he’d been selling for hours and yet only one or two people bought his newspapers. He was still left with a pile on his little fingers as he walked down the snow-piled street. This unfortunate events was not because of his laziness or carelessness. He was offering those papers with all his heart and he held on to those papers with little fingers tightly so that the papers didn’t fall. But his appearance was the main reason. While other children in the orphanage were cute, blonde, blue-eyed and well, normal, this little boy did not look like that. He had black hair, purplish eyes and his smile was tiny. He was mixed with Asian blood so people thought of him like a child of a slave. This little boy kept wandering until he stopped in front of a small toy shop. The little boy noticed a purple bear-like doll and was fascinated. Plus, he was freezing and the shop looked warm. He entered the store and was awed at the owner’s work.

“Welcome to Mr.Thace’s toy shop. What can I help you little one?”

 The boy blushed deeply because of embarrassment. He was only there for a little visit and warm his body from the cold. He didn’t expect contact from the owner himself. The owner realized that the boy was shivering and eyed the stack of newspapers on his hands.

“Why don’t you come here and take a seat?”

Thace smiled at the little boy and pulled a stool. He motioned to the little boy and went inside for a while. The little boy sat at the spinning stool, put his newspapers at the nearby table and looked around the toys in the store. He had never seen that many toys in the store, to be exact new toys. All the dolls back in the orphanage were old and worn out so looking at that many vivid colors was quite a shock.

After a while, Thace came out with two steamy mugs of hot cocoa and a bowl of marshmallows. He set it on the table and offered him a mug. The little boy instantly grabbed it and blew on the steam, then drank it slowly. After a sip or two he looked back at Thace with sparkly eyes and drank again. Thace chuckled. The little boy saw the bowl of marshmallows in the bowl. He never had any sweets in the orphanage besides some candy made of melted sugar.

“Mister, what is that white thing?”

“You never had a marshmallow before? Here, try one”

 “Marsh-melon?”

But the boy did grab the dessert and put it in his mouth. In an instant his eyes start to water, making Thace shocked

“Kid, what is it?”

“I’ve never had something this good before…”

Thace’s heart melted when he heard the little boy’s words. How poor was he until he never had marshmallows before? So they both drank the cocoa and marshmallows in comfortable silence. When Thace dipped the mallows in the cocoa the kid followed and was astonished again by the flavor. After the drinks were finished Thace made a small chat with him

“What’s your name boy?”

“Keith Kogane, mister”

“Keith huh? What are you doing with those newspapers in the cold?”

“The newspapers…. OH NO! I have to go now”

“Why is it?”

“I have to quickly sell these if I want to go back to the orphanage”

“Huh?”

“Provisions in the orphanage were scarce. Us kids have to sell things in order to cover the bill.”

“How much money do you have to buy them all?”

“Um… one costs a dime. So if I sell them all I’ll have…. 5 dollars”

Thace was dumbfounded. He worked so hard just for 5 dollars? He could make 5 times the money any given day. He decided to buy all of Keith’s papers. People would buy papers from the toy shop anytime. After all, he also needed some more newspaper for his works. When the street lantern man lighted those lanterns he sent Keith home with the money. He waved the happy boy goodbye and Keith made him shocked because he hugged him tight with his little hands.

“Thank you for everything mister. And the marshmallows too”

Keith smiled and skipped back to the orphanage. Thace smiled too as he closed the doors and continued his work. He never thought that this Keith boy would come to him almost every day.

 ______________

_(This will be some events happening between Keith and Thace)_

_Christmas Eve_

“Mr. Thace, do you get a lot of Christmas orders?”

“Why yes, Keith. Why do you ask?”

“You make a lot of toys for other people. Have you made a toy for someone YOU wanted?”

Thace stopped. He put the doll head he was working on gently on the table. The head rolled a bit and stopped. Thace sighed, and put on a sad smile. Keith was afraid that he would be scolded. It wasn’t regular to see him stop when he asked a question. He saw as Thace raised his work apron and took something from his shirt pocket. It was a piece of photograph. It didn’t look very old because the ink on the paper hadn’t wilted that many. But the paper seemed to be always held on because there were some rips here and there. On the paper was Thace on his special ops service, younger and grinning widely while grabbing another man who was also smiling a little on the shoulder. 

“Is that the person you wanted to give a gift to?” 

Keith’s eyes glimmered and snatched the photo from Thace’s hand. He took a closer look at the man. He had a weird mysterious aura to him, but he looked nice. His skin was paler than Keith, his irises were like amber stones in the sun and his silvery hair was cut in a funny three-lined cut. But to Keith it didn’t matter, because he was too fascinated by the fact that this was Mr. Thace’s special person.

“Who is he Mr.Thace?”

“His name was Ulaz. He was the greatest person I’ve ever met, and we were kind of… a thing.”

“Were? What happened?”

Thace sighed

“If you want to know, how about we pay him a little visit on Christmas day? Been a while since I visited. I think you should call today an end too Keith.”

Keith pouted and started to head towards the toy shop doors. He wanted to see Mr.Ulaz, but it’s better to wait one more day rather than not going at all. That night he kept tossing and turning in his bunk, wondering what will Mr. Ulaz be like. He thought that he’ll be fun too like Mr. Thace, perhaps he’s the one who made marshmallows for Mr. Thace. Since that fateful day, Keith fell in love with marshmallows and will like everyone who liked marshmallows like he and Mr. Thace did.

 

_Christmas_

 

“Merry Christmas Mr. Thace!”

“Merry Christmas to you too, Keith. So, you ready to go?”

Keith’s eyes sparkled with excitement. After putting his gift for Thace on the cashier table, he and Thace started walking together out of the store. Thace always closed the store on Christmas because the people that entered there that day would just be people buying late gifts and he could not be oppressed by those nagging customers asking him to make a rapid custom doll.

And so, the little boy followed Thace through the streets. At first he saw houses, then larger houses, until Keith thought Ulaz was a multi-millionaire or a wealthy man. But the houses got rarer, until there was no house at all. Thace stopped at a small flower stand and bought a bouquet of flowers with a warm smile. Keith thought of how romantic Thace is, just a visit to someone’s place and he bought flowers? He must be really special. Thace then turned left to enter a place and gestured Keith to come along. Keith looked up to the archway at the entrance and it read

Fallen Blade Veterans Cemetery

Keith gulped. He tried to think positive and thought that Ulaz was one of the staff working there. Thace stopped in front of a gravestone and put the bouquet on it. Keith read the writings on the stone

Here Lies Ulaz

A Precious Member of the Blade

Date of Birth Unknown

Date of Death Unknown

Death At the Age of 29

He Will Be Remembered Despite His Mysterious Past

“Well little Keith, you wanted to meet Ulaz that much, so say hello”

Thace patted Keith in the back with a smile. Keith shyly nodded and looked at the gravestone.

“Uh… Hello and Merry Christmas to you Mr.Ulaz. My name is Keith and I am just an orphan in one of the orphanages in town. Though I am orphaned, Mr. Thace is like a good dad to me. I’m so glad to have met you and Mr.Thace”

As Keith finished his sentence, he turned to see Thace wiping tears in his eyes. Keith panicked.

“M-Mr. Thace? D-did I say something wrong??”

“No… No you didn’t say anything wrong. God I just missed him so much and seeing you agreeing to come with me here made so many nostalgic feelings running through my brain. Let’s go back shall we? I’ll make us some hot drinks”

Keith, still confused, nodded his head and followed Thace back to the store. When they arrived and Thace made them some tea, they sat together surrounding a small coffee table. Then, Thace took out a big wrapped present from under the desk.

“Present time Keith. Merry Christmas, this is my gift to you”

Thace handed the gift to Keith who received it with sparkly eyes. The little boy quickly opened the gift and found a big tub filled with colorful marshmallows. He squealed in excitement.

“Thank you Mr. Thace!! Wow they’re not just white-colored!”

“Of course, bought it from the famous candy store in town. Don’t eat them all in one day okay?”

“Okay Mr. Thace! Oh… here! This is my Christmas present from me to you. Sorry if it isn’t as good as your gift”

Keith retrieved his present he left on the desk and gave it to Thace. Thace opened the messily wrapped present. He found a card, and a tiny box. He opened it and saw… himself, made of clay. And inside the card he saw a breathtaking art.

“Keith… Did you make this on your own?”

“Y-yeah… I know it’s kinda small. The church doesn’t have a lot of paper and clay. I wish I could’ve made it bigger”

“No, it’s so beautiful. I didn’t know you have this skill. And I am actually thinking to hire you here. Your art can seriously cut the cost of patterned fabric. Do you want to?”

“What? Yes!! I’d love to!! This is the best Christmas ever!! Thank you Mr.Thace!!”

And so both Keith and Thace spent their day in the shop together. When Keith went back to the orphanage, Thace waved him goodbye and locked the shop doors. He walked into his work table and unlocked a drawer. Inside the drawer was actually empty, except for a thin gift in the middle of the drawer. He smiled and re-closed the drawer.

_One day, Keith will know_

 

___________

 “Keith, I actually never seen you play with other kids from the orphanage. What’s up?”

Thace asked one day while he was working on a doll order. Keith stunned, and was quiet for a moment

“I uh… don’t have any friends”

Thace stopped his work, put down his utensils, and beckoned Keith to come sit on the stool beside him. Keith slowly made his way to the stool and sat, keeping his head low out of embarrassment.

“Why don’t you have any friends? You seem nice for a kid”

“I tried to make friends with them, but they wouldn’t want to have a friend with me. They say that I’m too different from them, they called me names like ‘alien’ and stuff like that. I would always get fed up when they start to mock me, and I would be angry at them or maybe hit them. I don’t know Mr.Thace, it seems that they hate everything I do so it’s better that I don’t be friends with them”

Thace looked at the boy’s physique. Well, he doesn’t look like the average kid in their region. The dark hair, the slightly smaller eyes, the abnormally purple iris. He was different. But Thace was okay with it, so why can’t the other ones be okay with him too?

Thace watched over his customers, almost all of them had the same type of traits. He wanted to find a friend for Keith. Not that he wants Keith to leave him alone, no, but he just wants Keith to socialize with some other people. But who…

One fine day he got it. He called Keith to his worktable. It’s also a perfect day for Keith to start learning that skill too.

“Keith, how about I start teaching you the basics of dollmaking? You know, the “secret formulas” to my famous creations”

Keith nodded enthusiastically

“But Mr.Thace, who are we making?”

“Your friends” Thace smiled

“Friends? I told you, I don’t have any in the orphanage. You and the nuns are the ones closest to me”

“Oh, I know that. That’s why we’re making these dolls so that you can ‘socialize’ with them.”

“We made toys for them, but have you made a toy for yourself or me?”

“Why should I make myself one? After all, you are just perfect this way. My style won’t go with you”

Keith didn’t really care about who his so-called “friends” will be, but he’ll just go with the flow. Thace planned to give the finished dolls to them, so that Keith will at least be friends with them. He already decided who the people will be, because they are like Keith. Different. A Japanese man with a two-tone hair, a loud Latino boy, two Italian siblings, a warm and welcoming boy who seems to come from the Pacific islands, and a kind-hearted African woman. 

 

 

________

 

Time passed.10 years flew too fast was it? Keith was now an adult. He kept that mullet neatly all these years. He kept a build on his body, having slight abs due to the work and him somehow realizing that Thace always asked him to follow him exercise and he now is Thace’s right hand man. The toy shop got more customers thanks to Keith’s ability to custom a pattern for the fabric. Thace got him some markers and paint to make those patterns. Keith can also make dolls if the orders became overwhelming. Those people that became Keith’s first doll models, well it turns out he didn’t need to make the dolls to befriend them. They just came to Keith and somehow they were now the best group of friends ever known. Their names were Lance, Shiro, Matt, Pidge, Hunk and Allura. Keith was also in a relationship with Lance, Thace also allowed them to do so since he himself had quite the similar background. “Who knew you rivals could end up like this” said Thace when Keith decided to spill the beans to him.

Despite all this, Thace also realized one more thing. He’s growing old. Yes he can still make dolls and work in the toy shop, but his limits were showing. At some point he couldn’t even wake up and do the job properly. Was this it? As much as he wanted to stay with Keith, he just couldn’t. He couldn’t do it anymore, but until that day comes Thace will try his best to spend time with Keith. Keith also realized this, he spends time more with Thace, he sometimes even closed the store for a day or two to take Thace on a short vacation. He didn’t live in the orphanage anymore, but in a small flat near the store.

But then Thace couldn’t work anymore, he was bedridden with a sickness possibly caused by things that happened back in the days he served the military. Keith took care of the store on his own while taking care of Thace. One day, Thace spoke to Keith when he was busy tidying the room.

 “Keith, come here for a second will you?”

Keith stopped wiping the racks and sat near him, confused

“Keith, you know that I’m growing old”

“Of course I do”

“You do know that I don’t have much time left”

“I know but come on, you can get better from this sickness”

Thace smiled, but shook his head slowly.

“Keith, there was something you should know. I’ve been keeping this away from you for a long time now. Go to my old work desk and open the drawer beneath it, there’s my last present for you”

“Thace, don’t say that. This isn’t your last present and it never will”

“Just… go grab it”

Keith nodded, and left the room to go to the attic. The work desk wasn’t used anymore since Keith bought a new set of work desk last year. When he opened the door to the attic, the thickening dust made Keith cough, but he finally found the desk and opened the drawer. There was a thin present wrapped with a yellowed paper. He grabbed it and made his way back to Thace’s room, guessing what would the present be

“Hey Thace, this is the thing—”

Keith suddenly dropped the gift and ran into the room

“Thace, Thace wake up! Come on, don’t you dare sleep on me right now…”

Keith shook Thace’s body, but there was only silence. Thace’s eyes had closed shut, he did not respond to any of Keith’s reactions, his body had gone cold and limp, but he was smiling. As Keith’s hands started to let go of Thace’s body, warm tears flowed through his eyeballs one by one.

“No…”

That was the only word Keith could say as he carefully opened the wrapping paper, the thin present was truly Thace’s final gift to him. Inside the gift he found a dark green folder, and there was a sheet of paper stuck in the folder. When Keith read what was written in the paper, tears came flowing back to his face.

“You don’t have to adopt me in the first place, I always think of you as my dad from the moment we met… Stupid Thace…”

 

_________

_Five years later_

“Lance for THE LAST TIME, there’s nothing left in the shop. Only empty old shelves”

“Come on, let’s just check it one more time. Maybe there’s still some more treasures in there”

Keith and Lance were going to visit the shop one more time. A rich buyer wanted to buy the property to build his vacation home and they were going to do some final checking before giving the keys away. Some time after Thace’s death, Keith moved the little toy shop to a more strategic place downtown. Lance also helped, and now the store belonged to the both of them, with their friends as employees. When they walked down the alleyway to the store, nostalgia flowed over Keith’s head. And when they arrived, memories flowed. The times when he and Thace worked together, the time when he met Lance in the store, there were so many memories created in this small shop. The shop was empty now, the sign was long taken down, and most of the wood wilted. Keith opened the locked store with the keys on his hand, and a small bell echoed through the empty space, welcoming them to the closed store. It was dark, since the lamps died for who knows how long. A layer of dust covered the whole place along with cobwebs, and the room creaked when the couple took a step.

“See, this is it, nothing more. Now let’s go”

Keith huffed and gave Lance an annoyed look, but Lance didn’t care. He kept looking around in the room, opening empty shelves and cabinets until he found a closed cabinet on an old green shelf in the corner of the room. The shelf was located behind the old cashier, so when the store was still open it might not be filled with old products. When Lance opened the cabinet, he pulled out a large fruit cardboard box. It was taped closed so Lance didn’t know what could be inside, but the box didn’t give a sound when he shaked it, so he called to Keith after putting the box on the cashier table

“Keith, what’s this box?”

“What box? ….Oh no”

Keith suddenly ran to the place Lance put the box and quickly tried to snatch it from the table, but he accidentally dropped the set of keys to the floor. Lance swiftly grabbed it and used one of the keys to poke through the wrapping tape on the box, slowly opening it. When he finally did open the box, he was greeted with… himself.

“Lance, it’s not what it looks like” Keith facepalmed

“You made a doll… for me? And the others?”

Lance lifted his own doll, his eyes twinkled of amazement. He was made with white hair, he was wearing a simple crown and he had marks under his eyes. Besides that, the doll looked pretty much like himself. Underneath his doll there were five more dolls, each representing all the friends in the shop

“Uh… That was actually my first set of dolls. I made it way before me met”

“Why didn’t you show it to us back then?”

“Because I thought it looked horrible?”

“Keith… These are marvelous!”

“You really think so?”

“Yep! Let’s bring it back to the others”

Keith blushed, but nodded and grabbed the box, closing it with his hands. He gave it to Lance for a brief moment and his boyfriend started to walk to the door. Out of no reason and curiosity, Keith took a glance to the open cabinet

“Hm?”

“What is it Keith?”

“I’ve never noticed this part of the cabinet before”

Inside the cabinet, there was a bulge. The bulge was well camouflaged so it won’t be visible when seen from the front. It seems that the bulge used to be locked, but since the iron keyhole had corroded, it opened just a tiny crack. Lance put down the box near the door and walked back behind Keith to know what could be inside. Keith slowly outreached his hand and tried to open the small door. When it was open, he stunned

“What’s inside?” Lance asked

“Love” Keith answered with a smile.

 

 (If it doesnt work go [Here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/156243414@N05/38594825444/in/dateposted-public/))

**Author's Note:**

> Still feelsy? Welp. I tried


End file.
